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Mutations
Mutations is the name for a new set of gameplay modes that was released alongside the new campaign, The Passing in Left 4 Dead 2. The Mutations are special game modes that run for one week before it is retired, and replaced by a new Mutation each week as they become announced on the in-game Blog Post every Friday. Periodically, a poll will be conducted for players to vote for their favorite Mutation, which will return the following week as an Encore Mutation, meaning it will re-appear the next week (See below for Encore Mutations). It is only available to those who have downloaded The Passing. __toc__ Revealed Mutations There are over 20 different Mutations planned, and playable on all Left 4 Dead 2 Campaigns. So far, the following have been revealed on Valve's blog in the scheduled order along with their taglines: Unrevealed Mutations WARNING: Spoilers. The following were found in a Steam-Group annoucement and have not been seen in a schedule as of yet. They can also be found amongst the game's script files. As they have not been announced by Valve yet, they may still be subject to changes or removal. Strategies Realism Versus Bleed Out Follow the Liter Last Gnome on Earth Last Man on Earth Chainsaw Massacre Room for One Headshot! Versus Survival Four Swordsmen Hard Eight Healthpackalypse! Gib Fest Iron Man Encores and Developer's Choice After every four or five weeks, Valve may announce an encore week in which the community vote for a Mutation to be replayed. Only recent Mutations that have been played may be voted for. Alternatively, the developers may choose to replay one of their chosen Mutations for a week as a "Developer's Choice". The following encore weeks re-showcased the following Mutations: * Friday, May 21st (week 5) had Last Gnome on Earth return for another week. * Friday, June 25th (week 10) had Chainsaw Massacre reappear. On the Xbox 360, it led with 43% of the votes. However it was much more close on the PC. Chainsaw Massacre won by 1%, specifically 500 more votes, than the second most voted PC Mutation: Headshot!. * Friday, July 30th (week 15) had a split vote. For the PC, Versus Survival won by 6% more than Four Swordsmen. However, on the Xbox 360, Four Swordsmen won by 10% more than Versus Survival. * Friday, August 20th (week 18) had developers choosing Last Man On Earth to be replayed for one week on both PC and Xbox 360. * Friday, August 27th (week 19) had a split vote. For the PC, Gib Fest won by 5% more than Versus Survival. However, on the Xbox 360, Chainsaw Massacre won by 5% more than Gib Fest. * Friday, September 3rd (week 20) had developers choosing Hard Eight to be replayed for one week on both PC and Xbox 360. * Friday, September 10th (week 21) had developers choosing Follow The Liter to be replayed for one week on both PC and Xbox 360. * Friday, September 17th (week 22) will have developers choosing a Mutation to be replayed for one week on both PC and Xbox 360. Notes * thumb|310px|right|A Hard Eight Preview from AchievementorWeek 2 of the In-Game blog made a poll, asking if Realism Versus should have a permanent slot in the game modes. Due to majority votes, Realism Versus is now a permanent game mode. * The Mutation Bleed Out was previously bugged, as on The Passing, the original Survivors would sometimes throw First aid kits down to the new Survivors during the finale The Port. Although this was quickly patched by Valve in the 30th April update, the bug is still currently active on the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead 2. ** Furthermore, if in a black and white state after being incapacitated, taking Pain pills will return color, but the heartbeat (signifying emergency state in black and white mode) can still be heard. * The Mutation Last Gnome on Earth may be bugged. When you play Dark Carnival, on the second chapter, you can obtain a second Gnome Chompski from the shooting gallery and progress through the whole campaign with two gnomes, who are treated the same as each other (Common and Uncommon Infected will equally go after the gnome carriers), yet when on your last "life" i.e. seeing in monochrome, only one of these will be outlined. This has yet to be patched, if it is a bug. ** Getting any gnome into the rescue vehicle counts for the Guardin' Gnome achievement if not obtained already. You can even start the game at The Concert, then play through to get this achievement. ** When you are playing Dead Center on the the first chapter, make sure you hold the gnome in the elevator, if not he will fall right through the floor and become unreachable. ** This can also happen on the ferry on Swamp Fever, as the gnome falls through the wood and lands in the insta-kill water. * In the Mutation Last Man on Earth, the guns in Whitaker's Gunshop are different. Where the Pump Shotguns and Submachine Guns usually are, their Tier 2 replacements will occupy their space instead. ** In the Atrium after you have finished pouring the gas cans and escaped, the Common Infected appear outside. * In the Mutation Chainsaw Massacre, on The Passing's finale the original Survivors will be using Pistols instead of their normal Tier 2 weapons. Louis, however, continues to use the Heavy Machine Gun. ** This mode is currently bugged. Similar to the Bleed Out Mutation bug during The Passing on the finale (see above note), the original Survivors may occasionally throw down Tier 2 weapons (including the M60) to the new Survivors during the finale The Port, letting Survivors fight with a Chainsaw and firearm. ** During this Mutation it is possible to find other primary weapons in the campaign - for example in Hard Rain's second stage Sugar Mill, at the safe room where the diesel gas cans are, there is a single Pump Shotgun on the ground. As the gun is loaded to its maximum capacity, it can serve as a backup weapon for dealing with Boomers and Spitters. As the Mutation is meant to be revolved around using the Chainsaw or Pistols you begin with (since no firearms or ammo piles spawn generally), this is a bug. ** Laser sights will still spawn in this mode, but they are unusable since you have no primary weapons. The only exceptions are when you obtain a primary weapon via the bugs described above. * In the Mutation Room for One, playing the whole finale will get you the campaign Achievement if you don't have it. Even if you're not the one to make it into the rescue vehicle, you will still get the Achievement as long as you are alive when the campaign ends. For example, making it into the Dark Carnival helicopter, and getting MIDNIGHT RIDER. ** In the Hard Rain finale, Town Escape, if a Survivor jumps from the flat level dock and not the inclined ramp onto the boat, that Survivor will live but NOT be counted as the winner. The Survivor that jumps from the inclined ramp is the winner even though the ending FMV might show otherwise. This may be a bug. * In the Mutation Headshot!, Common Infected may occasionally be decapitated, and still continue to move about until hit in the head area to finish the kill. ** When incapacitated, shooting Common Infected anywhere translates into an instant headshot, so fending yourself when incapacitated is actually easier. ** When a Common Infected is killed with a Frying Pan or Nightstick, it doesn't lose it's head. ** Riot Infected are extremely hard to kill in this Mutation as they have to be shot/decapitated from the back of the head. ** The update for the Mutation Headshot! '''has not been obtainable by a lot of Xbox 360 owners of the game (if not hooked up by LAN connection to their modem). After they start up the game and get to the main menu, the Blog Post from week 1 of Mutations will be shown there, and Realism Versus will not have it's usual permanent slot, but it will be available under the Mutation slot. Reasons for this are so far unknown, though it's most likely due to a bug or the connection to the servers. Additionally, the date of the Blog Post will say March 23rd, 2010, despite that the original date of The Passing's official released date was on April 22nd, 2010. * In the Mutation '''Four Swordsmen, unlike Chainsaw Massacre, Survivors immediately start the campaign with Katana in hand. However, the cut scene played at the start of each campaign was designed for the Survivors to have the Pistol in their hands, so there may be some slight graphical errors in how they hold the Katana with their pistol grips. This is immediately fixed as soon as players control the Survivors, as they will hold the Katana normally afterwards. ** The Mutation Four Swordsmen appears as that name in the Mutation in-game option, but on the update and Blog Post (in-game as well as website blog), the Mutation is known by the longer name Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse. It is unknown why Valve chose to use longer and shorter variations of the Mutation's name rather than sticking with one single name. ** On Swamp Fever, at The Swamp, just after the hanging military man in the trees, a Magnum and a Katana can be found at the small wooden dock. If Survivors wish to break the theme of 'swords only', the Magnum can be handy for dealing with Special Infected at range. As the Katana is meant to be the only weapon for use in this Mutation, this is considered to be a bug. ** Similar to Chainsaw Massacre, it is possible to find other primary weapons in the campaign - for example in Hard Rain's second stage Sugar Mill, at the safe room where the diesel gas cans are, there is a single Pump Shotgun on the ground. As the gun is loaded to its maximum capacity, it can serve as a backup weapon for dealing with Special Infected from a distance, or for killing Witches by cr0wning them. As this Mutation is meant to be revolved around using only the Katana, this is a bug. ** Laser sights will still spawn in this mode, but they are unusable since you have no primary weapons. The only exceptions are when you obtain a primary weapon via the bugs described above. * In the Mutation Gib Fest, during The Passing, the original Survivors are still capable of dropping laser-sighted M60s. Though the M60 drop itself is pointless, it's still useful for its laser sight (given that the Survivors have not obtained laser sights beforehand). ** Similar to Chainsaw Massacre and Four Swordsmen, it is possible to find other primary weapons - for example in Hard Rain's second stage Sugar Mill, at the safe room where the diesel gas cans are, there is a single Pump Shotgun on the ground. As this gun has unlimited ammunition too, it can serve as a replacement for the M60. As this Mutation is meant to be revolved around using only M60's and Magnums, this is a bug. * In the Mutation Iron Man, it is still possible to find, and also use, Defibrillators. Though this Mutation states that once you die, you're dead permanently, and yet there are still Defibrillators that you can find and use, this might be a bug, but is not completely certain, as the Mutation is based on Realism rules, which allow Defibrillators to revive Survivors. ** The in-game tagline description of the Mutation Iron Man does not mention "no ammo". It just states no respawns, no restarts, all tension, unlike the Blog Post (in-game and web blog) which states no respawns, no restarts, no ammo, all tension. * Some of the Mutation names along with their taglines appear to be based on certain themes, imagery, or others: ** Chainsaw Massacre is likely a reference to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. ** Iron Man is likely derived from the Ironman Triathlon, in terms of how grueling the mode will be (Ironman Triathlons have a mantra where "just finishing is a victory"). A number of other games, such as Halo 3, also have modes based on the name. ** Four Swordsmen (along with its longer name Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse), along with its tagline Four Swords against plenty of apocalypse!, is a play on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the last book of the New Testament of the Bible. It could also be a reference to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, though this is unlikely. ** Last Man on Earth, along with its tagline You will become legend to the infected as the last human left., is a reference to the novel I Am Legend and its related film adaptations, where the protagonist is (what he believes) the last surviving human in a world full of infected beings (in this case, vampires, who he quickly becomes a legendary monster to). The title is derived from the Italian movie The Last Man on Earth (L'ultimo uomo della Terra), which was based on the I Am Legend novel. *** With the infected beings in the novel and film adaptations being vampires, this might also lead into Francis' mistaken belief that the Infected are vampires due to their similar behavior, aggression, and running speed, in comparison to stereotypical film zombies which move at a lumbering pace. ** Bleed Out is a colloquial term for exsanguination, the fatal process of total blood loss. It is more commonly known as "bleeding to death". It is also a reference to a Survivor bleeding out to death if left incapacitated for too long. ** The Last Samurai may be named after the movie of the same name, where the protagonist is armed with just a sword against superior odds. The protagonist in the movie, however, was only alone in terms of racial group. * Some Achievements may be easier to earn on some Mutations. Examples include: ** BRIDGE OVER TREBLED SLAUGHTER (Chainsaw Massacre, Last Man on Earth, Four Swordsmen, Room for One) ** CHAIN OF COMMAND (Chainsaw Massacre) ** CONFEDERACY OF CRUNCHES (Chainsaw Massacre, Four Swordsmen, The Last Samurai) ** GUARDIN' GNOME (Last Gnome on Earth) ** PRICE CHOPPER, TORCH BEARER, MIDNIGHT RIDER, RAGIN' CAJUN, WEATHERMAN, BRIDGE BURNER (Room for One) ** STILL SOMETHING TO PROVE (Last Man On Earth, The Last Samurai, Room for One, Four Swordsmen, Gib Fest) ** SOB STORY (Last Man on Earth, The Last Samurai) ** TANK BURGER (Chainsaw Massacre, Last Man on Earth, Four Swordsmen, The Last Samurai) ** TIL IT GOES CLICK (Gib Fest) ** VIOLENCE IN SILENCE (Last Man on Earth, The Last Samurai) ** HEAD HONCHO (Headshot!) * Although Realism Versus has become a permanent game mode, playing it counts towards the MUTANT OVERLORD Achievement, if not already obtained. * Even on a Mutation that excludes Common Infected, they can occasionally be seen milling about idly on various stages. * Chainsaw Massacre is currently the most repeated Mutation, having appeared three times altogether as of September 3rd 2010. The weeks it has appeared in are: ** Friday June 4th 2010 (initial appearance, Week 7) ** Friday June 25th 2010 (first encore, Week 10) ** Friday August 27th 2010 (second encore, Xbox 360 only, Week 19) Category:The Passing Category:Left 4 Dead 2 Category:Campaigns